prince

But Emancipation was underwhelming. It wasn't that he was phoning it in necessarily, but most of what was on that record was What We Know Prince Can Do, rather than Prince Taking Chances.

Agreed. The problem is, What We Know Prince Can Do tends to be more listenable (ie, less appalling) these days than Prince Taking Chances.

i think sott is the end of classic prince, rather than the start of modern prince. graffiti bridge was basically the real end of that though, seeing as it had a lot of old 86-era songs from the sott/dream factory sessions on it.

1999 is just bolder though (im using this to compare as its his first big double album) - it feels like no one had done anything like that before. sott meanwhile seems more measured with some not exactly obvious (he makes them prince-ian) influences showing up but still clear here and there (the ending of play in the sunshine i still love but it now just makes me think of strawberry fields) whereas before prince seemed to have few obvious influences. could never take the place is still amazing and weirdly the guitar section now makes me think of weather report or return to forever but not nearly as flashy/bloated. very odd hearing an album youre so familiar with after leaving it alone for so long.

emancipation is good if you trim it to one cd. more than that and its weaknesses start to show. plus a lot of the songs on there were just too long.

There is a lot more worth saving on Emancipation than just one CD's worth. Chunks of it are self-indulgent but most of it works.

I think Emancipation apologists take things a bit too far, really. Especially when there's the perfectly serviceable Gold Experience right next to it in the discography.

Here's where I admit I never got "I Hate U."

It's perfectly possible to like both Emancipation and The Gold Experience! In fact, I prefer The Gold Experience; that doesn't make me dislike Emancipation.

those stabs at nineties R&B on Love Symbol and TGE are mostly tinkly and treacly. Emacipation is where he gets it.

Don't think we ever polled TGE.

Here's where I admit I could really care less about anything on Emancipation outside of "Sleep Around" and "The Human Body."

"Let's Have a Baby" has quietly become one of my favorite Prince ballads: the bass, piano, his falsetto.

ha Eric, well at least I agree that both of those tracks bang

sleep around i always thought george michael should have covered

"Sleep Around" with "Star People" production would be pretty great.

or 'outside' type production

it really is the best GM song GM never recorded

could never take the place is still amazing and weirdly the guitar section now makes me think of weather report or return to forever but not nearly as flashy/bloated. very odd hearing an album youre so familiar with after leaving it alone for so long.

this might be my least favorite part of the whole record. the drum programming drives me crazy, that relentless fake open hi-hat over what should be a simmering breakdown

aargh the drums on ICNTTPYM drive me insane, if there was ever a Prince single for proper rock drumming

drums on the Cross are also terrible, as opposed to Sheila rocking out on SOTT live

maybe the Mo Tucker effect on the album was intentional, I dunno

cmon, you think prince really was listening hard to the velvets? thats just something critics assigned to the song in retrospect, no?

Yeah - I also seriously doubt he was listening to the VU. Wishful Critic Thinking.

The beauty of SOTT - and very much spoken about at the time it was released - is the very obvious demo-y quality of many of the tracks. Especially when Prince was always so good at passing off stuff he'd recorded mainly by himself as full band collabs (i.e. "1999", much of Purple Rain)

Love the drums on "The Cross"! They actually sound live.

I also like the sorta crappy drum machine sound.

the drums on the cross are live. its not a drum machine. ICNTTPOYM is a drum machine tho, obv.

prince would not be a VU fan imo... i think he would see them as deficient/too inept in some way.

there's more than one AMAZING cd on emancipation but not much more
still necessary
crystal ball is not as good, but again there's at least one great disc

I really don't think it's that big of a stretch that Prince would be familiar with VU.

In 1987? I do.

there's more to life than Prince you know but not much more

xpost

The VU albums were reissued in 1985 so it's more than feasible that he heard them then if not well before.

well i could believe that wendy and lisa might have played him some

honestly can't see Prince having even the slightest interest in a band that doesn't have "chops" in the conventional sense. and VU did not.

across the board, all his obvious influences - Kraftwerk, P-Funk, Sly, Joni Mitchell - were very slick musos

also just because a song has only two chords /= Velvets

Well, he also loved Cocteau Twins c. the Parade era so maybe chops weren't everything...

uh Elizabeth Fraser definitely has vocal chops

http://www.westendextra.com/news/2011/jul/prince-spotted-berwick-street-purple-rain-superstar-drops-buy-cds-and-dvds-soho-record

who knew this guy went record shopping. seems like a wasteed trip though. hes in soho, hes going to SOTU, and he buys hendrix, curtis, sly and al green (all of which i am sure he knows off by heart). says it all really about where hes at these days!

cementing his legacy/place in the pantheon?

that would be if he went around record shops reshelving his own albums ;)

I would posit that releasing so many albums is the opposite of taking a chance. Dude should cull and concentrate, then drop an album that has more weight to it than "the newest Prince album until he releases two or three more next year."

when Prince culls and concentrates, we end up with Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic

culling and concentrating has never really been his forte

when Prince culls and concentrates, we end up with Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic

Ha, too true. Musicology sounded like he made an effort, too, and that turned out ... better.

when he culls and concentrates, he also records SOTT.

A handful of rave-ups aside, it might be the quietest rock double album ever recorded.

Musicology sounded like he made an effort, too, and that turned out ... better.

Speak for yourself.

"The opposite of NATO is OTAN"

makes ya think

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lohrzkYyV91qixko4o1_400.gif

<3

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj273/mookiebut/funk_convulsion.gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJH-nLejSIg&feature=player_embedded

yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.

I've never taken the time to track down unreleased Prince stuff, but this is convincing me I should.

heard an incredible prince bootleg the other day - 20 min set, live in bbc studios in '92. just insane, especially the transitions.

you absolutely should rev, although the homemade bootleg series someone linked to in one of the polls threads does a pretty good job at collecting the best of it and grouping it by era.